China has resumed testing of an upgraded version of the country’s most-powerful, full-cryogenic rocket engine as part of the return to flight effort for the Long March 5 heavy-lift rocket that encountered a failure last year due to a problem with one of two YF-77 engines installed on its core stage.

The year 2017 saw a total of 90 known orbital launch attempts from seven nations and space ports in eight different countries. 2017 had the second most orbital launch attempts of any year in the current century, short of 92 launches in 2014 and showing a slight increase from 2016 that had 85 known launch attempts.

China’s heaviest rocket lifted off from a picturesque tropical launch site on Hainan Island at sunset on Sunday, rising into sunlight shortly after blastoff before disappearing in the night on its second orbital mission.

China’s Long March 5 – ranking among the most powerful rockets in the world – is standing ready atop its launch pad on Hainan Island for liftoff this weekend with one of the heaviest, if not the heaviest Geostationary Satellite

China’s Shijian-17 satellite has reached its destination in Geostationary Orbit after a successful launch on the inaugural Long March 5 rocket and two weeks of orbital drifting until settling in its operational position.

Chinese launch controllers took to social media after last week’s successful inaugural launch of the Long March 5 rocket to recount a dramatic chain of events leading up to liftoff that were not visible to outside observers at the time.

China’s Long March 5 Heavy-Lift Rocket made an impressive debut launch on Thursday, thundering into the evening skies over Hainan Island to embark on a long-awaited shakedown mission to demonstrate the country’s most powerful rocket, on-par with the heavy-weight launchers of the world.

China’s Long March 5 Heavy-Lift Rocket made an impressive debut launch on Thursday, thundering into the evening skies over Hainan Island to embark on a long-awaited shakedown mission to demonstrate the country’s most powerful rocket, on-par with the heavy-weight launchers of the world.

China’s Long March 5 Heavy-Lift Rocket made an impressive debut launch on Thursday, thundering into the evening skies over Hainan Island to embark on a long-awaited shakedown mission to demonstrate the country’s most powerful rocket, on-par with the heavy-weight launchers of the world.

China’s Long March 5 rocket was rolled out to a Launch Pad on Hainan Island on Friday for the heavy-lifter’s inaugural flight next week, marking the last in a series of new rockets to be introduced by the Chinese.